THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

None but Master Masons are permitted to apply for affiliation; and
every
Brother so applying must bring to the lodge to which he applies a
certificate of his regular dismission from the lodge of which he was
last
a member. This document is now usually styled a "demit," and should
specify the good standing of the bearer at the time of his resignation
or
demission.
Under the regulations of the various Grand Lodges of this country, a
profane cannot, as has been already observed, apply for initiation in
any
other lodge than the one nearest to his residence. No such regulation,
however, exists in relation to the application of a Mason for
affiliation. Having once been admitted into the Order, he has a right
to
select the lodge with which he may desire to unite himself. He is not
even
bound to affiliate with the lodge in which he was initiated, but after
being raised, may leave it, without signing the bye-laws, and attach
himself to another.
A profane, having been rejected by a lodge, can never apply to any
other
for initiation. But a Mason, having been rejected, on his application
for
affiliation, by a lodge, is not thereby debarred from subsequently
making
a similar application to any other.
In some few jurisdictions a local regulation has of late years been
enacted, that no Mason shall belong to more than one lodge. It is, I
presume, competent for a Grand Lodge to enact such a regulation; but
where
such enactment has not taken place, we must be governed by the ancient
and
general principle.
The General Regulations, adopted in 1721, contain no reference to this
case; but in a new regulation, adopted on the 19th February, 1723, it
was
declared that "no Brother shall belong to more than one lodge within
the
bills of mortality." This rule was, therefore, confined to the lodges
in
the city of London, and did not affect the country lodges. Still,
restricted as it was in its operation, Anderson remarks, "this
regulation
is neglected for several reasons, and now obsolete."[92] Custom now in
England and in other parts of Europe, as well as in some few portions
of
this country, is adverse to the regulation; and where no local law
exists
in a particular jurisdiction, I know of no principle of masonic
jurisprudence which forbids a Mason to affiliate himself with more than
one lodge.